Prologue

Out of the large windows of a giant observation tower, the man watched the sun creep over the mountains of the east. It was 4:59 AM, in the high desert of Nevada. The sunlight slowly progressed westward, revealing a gleaming city in the desert. Modern, glass and steel buildings were spread out over a wide distance from the tower. Surrounding the city was nothing but arid desert. It was quiet and still.

The man turned his attention to the two biomechanical giants that he was observing moving through the exercise range below. Both of the forty meter- tall giants were called Evangelions, a name intended to convey a spirit of salvation that the machines were supposed to provide. Today was not about salvation, however. It was about destruction.

The two Evangelions, or EVAs as they were commonly called, moved through the simulated city in a tightly coordinated effort, one taking cover and watching as the other moved quickly and carefully into another position of cover and then watching as the first one bounded forward. One of the EVA units was painted gunmetal black, while the other was a silvery white. Both moved as two soldiers would, with helmets and rifles, trained on perceived enemies in the distance.

As the white unit moved through a city block, an auto-cannon began to fire rapidly at it. The white EVA ducked behind a building, while the black unit took careful aim and opened fire with its rifle at the shooter. A billowing cloud of smoke appeared over the buildings. Both of the units moved quickly to where the smoke came from and found lying down in an exploded state another large humanoid figure. This one resembled the other two, but was painted purple and had a horn-like antenna on its helmet. Pieces of the destroyed Evangelion unit were strewn throughout the city block. The two giants quickly examined the destroyed beast and then proceeded to move forward again in tandem through the maze of city blocks.

Only a few steps later they again took fire from the horizon above the buildings and both giants dove for cover. The black EVA stood up and started firing on its own while the other quickly bounded between buildings, moving closer to the source of the fire. The white monster leaned against a building, brought up its rifle, and fired off a quick set of bursts. It was rewarded with another explosion, this one nearby. The black unit caught up to the other and both saw the target: another giant Evangelion unit, this one painted yellow, with a single large round “eye” on its helmet. The white EVA prodded the dead beast with its rifle, and it moved around noisily while it fell apart in pieces; it was only a mechanical target, not like the two hunters.

The two Evangelions continued to move deliberately towards the center of the city training range. In the center of the simulated city was another visible target, a red-painted unit with four green eyes, firing at the EVAs with two rocket launchers. Both units dodged the incoming rockets, which fell against the buildings and destroyed much of the facade scenery in the training range. The silvery-white EVA jumped up and shoulder-mounted its rifle, firing a continual burst at the mechanical red beast, while the other reached back and grabbed a fighting knife that was ejected from an upper shoulder mount. Upon grabbing the knife the black EVA ran at full speed down the boulevard straight at the red figure.

The four-eyed head of the red EVA swiveled to meet the oncoming black unit but it was too late. The black Evangelion had swiftly jumped directly in front of the target. Moving quickly, it reached back with its arm and in a single motion slashed the red target’s head clean off with the Progressive Knife. A spout of fire and smoke exploded from the neck and the red simulated Evangelion collapsed to the ground.

Inside the observation tower, a voice came over the loudspeaker. “Master Control, Units 03 and 04 have completed the training range. All targets confirmed destroyed.” The voice was young and confident.

The man in the tower looked over the city at the carnage and the two giants standing amid the fire and smoke, and he smiled to himself.